I arrived late on Thursday to drop my pictures at the gallery. The town lights were on and Aldeburgh looked very pretty.


The Met Bureau had forecast heavy rain and 12C for the weekend but in the morning the sun was shining.


I had spent a lot of time preparing the exhibition before arriving and my work paid off as the hanging was trouble free and relatively quick.

An opening was scheduled for 3pm so there was no time to waste but we were ready in plenty of time and the etchings/paintings looked great - a good size for the room really.


But ... where were the guests?

I found out later that the bus bringing participants from London had broken on the motorway. So instead of coming to an art exhibition guests were treated to a 3 hour display of engineering ingenuity as the mechanic built a replacement rod for the bus's gear box. Non-bus participants received their tickets (and the invitation to the exhibition) only when they arrived in town, too late for the opening.
So we packed away the glasses and just hoped that people would find time between the many activities during the event (movies/interviews/masterclasses/singing) to drop in. The movies were held in the Aldeburgh Cinema which was housed in the same quaint half timbered building as the Cinema Art Gallery so people did drop in. However, if I undertook such an exhibition again I would make sure the organisers of the event planned some exhibition-viewing time.
It was great showing the work to people with a similar Wagner addiction to my own. Wagner Society members didn't need the symbolism in my work explained to them, they understood it immediately and recognised the pieces of Wagner's librettos woven into the images. I was fascinated to see them inch their way around the room, examining each image and nodding their heads. Only two of the works sold over the weekend, but in the current financial climate that is probably a good result. I was told I should exhibit the work to a wider audience so I will think about that for the future. Perhaps there may be an opportunity in Hamburg as Wagner's Ring Cycle is being prepared in Hamburg by Australian born conductor Simone Young.
On Monday I woke at six and went for a walk along the beach.


I had the great good fortune of seeing the opera Peter Grimes on Monday evening.
Walking along along the Aldeburgh beach on Monday morning, then hearing Peter Grimes at the Coliseum in London in the evening was the highlight of the weekend for me.


On the Wednesday late flight back from Stanstedt I flew over English countryside yellow with Rapeseed flowers

1 comment:
How disappointing - until last year I had never even been in an exhibition as you know but I do remember once, many lifetimes ago deciding to hold an impromptu party when I was living on an urban lifestyle block at St Ives, Sydney (we were in the caretaker's cottage) and gave everyone we could think of, the wrong address!
Only the few who did know where we live arrived and we had curry, beer and wine for 100!!
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